What Questions Should You Be Asking A Copywriter Before Hiring Them?

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What Questions Should You Be Asking A Copywriter Before Hiring Them?

A good copywriter can help your business flourish but with the myriad copywriters all competing for your business, just how do you know who you should or shouldn’t hire?

In such a situation, knowing the right questions to ask is not only extremely useful, it’s absolutely essential.

1. Do you have examples of successful copy?

Every copywriter has to start somewhere and therefore some won’t have any successful campaign samples to refer you to. While these people obviously need a break, can you really afford to take the chance on somebody who may or may not be good at their trade? Your business is relying on the person you hire to produce copy that will draw buyers in and get your products or services moving. With this in mind, hire somebody who can show you successful copy for the medium you require and, preferably, provide you with references.

2. How long do you require before project completion?

Every project is different and only after giving your copywriter a full and thorough brief will he or she be able to provide a delivery date. However, it’s important that a deadline is agreed upon and that it falls within your requirements. There’s no point, after all, in receiving copy after the launch of a new product.

Always insist on:

A) A date for the first draft to be delivered, and
B) A delivery date for the final copy.

3. How much do you charge and what are your payment terms?

Some copywriters charge by the hour, others by word count and yet others by each individual project. In my experience it’s best to aim for an agreement on a “per project” basis although this does entail your giving the writer a thorough brief of the job before he or she can be expected to quote you. Always remember that you get what you pay for.

It’s also important that you agree on payment terms. Some copywriters require a percentage of the fee “up front”, others after delivery of the first draft and yet others require nothing until project completion. You should also agree on how and when payment should be transferred.

4. Are any necessary revisions included in the price?

Because a copywriter can’t possibly know your products or services as well as you do, there’s little chance of your receiving a perfect first draft. Of course, it’s your job to ensure that your copywriter has enough information to be able to put together copy that’s in keeping with your requirements but some editing will undoubtedly be necessary. Ensure that the fee quoted includes at least two revisions although expect your copywriter to set a deadline for such revisions; nobody wants to leave a project hanging open indefinitely. However, should you change your brief then it’s only fair that your copywriter bills you for any extra time spent working on the copy.

5. What information do you need in order to produce my copy?

For a copywriter to be able to produce his or her best work it’s important that all necessary information is provided beforehand. Your copywriter should be able to tell you exactly what he or she needs before the assignment begins, thus saving you the time and hassle of answering numerous questions “along the way”.

6. Will you be doing the work yourself?

Project managers often assume that the person they’re dealing with is the person who will write the copy but this isn’t always the case. If your copywriter is sub-contracting work you should ask to see copy previously written by the person producing your copy. A middle man generally tends to mean that some information is also more likely to be misunderstood (think Chinese whispers).

Other questions to ask are:

Have you handled this type of assignment before?
What size and type of business do you specialise in writing for?
What type of assignments do you handle? (e.g. web writing, press releases, brochures, speeches, etc)
Do you provide design work and/or graphics?

Of course, good old-fashioned “gut feeling” also come into play. A good working relationship is important – if you don’t feel comfortable with your copywriter then it’s probably best to look elsewhere.

Freelance web designers-Why hire them?

admin    Web Design     designersWhy, Freelance, Hire, Them

Freelance web designers-Why hire them?

When it comes to choose between a freelance web site designer and a web designing company, it becomes a bit difficult for all of us. Of course web site designing companies come with huge brands and big boasting about their many successful projects and happy clients. That definitely does the trick to lure us into their lair. But when it comes to hire a web designer, a better option will be a freelance web site designer.  

Freelance web site designers are well qualified designers with professional skills just like those big web design companies. A freelance web designer works individually and it’s much easier to get in touch with them personally. They offer a flexible service and have the ability to understand your project and shape them into a concrete reality. You can easily explain your ideas to them and they can get the website design customized according to your expectations.

Big web designing companies often have bloated overheads and they charge their fees pretty expensive. In comparison, a freelance web site designer will charge you much less thus cutting the cost of designing even more.

It’s a one-on-one partnership working with a freelancer. You may have a lot of ideas on your project and they will give their full attention to what you really want. Once they are into a project, they try hard to produce the best out of their skills and talent. Since they work individually, they take fewer projects at a time. They will offer that kind of complete dedication and emotional interest to make a website design really click. They will keep you inform on every stage of the project as well.

A web designing company will be more interested in taking bigger projects. They would simply want a project finished and move on to the next one just to make maximum turnover in less amount of time possible. Whether the web designing project is small or large, a freelance web designer values any kind project.

Freelance web designers also provide annual maintenance contracts at a very reasonable rate. This enables you to maintain your website in a very cost effective manner. They also suggest new features to help you upgrade your website constantly.

You will find full of specialized freelance flash web designers in the market offering their creative yet cost effective web design services. They will have well groomed portfolios along with them, so check them out before you hire them.

Related Web Design Tricks Articles

Nokia 6300 Vs Nokia 5300: Get More With Them

admin    861     5300, 6300, More, Nokia, Them

Nokia 6300 Vs Nokia 5300: Get More With Them

Nokia’s reputation as a mobile giant is increasing day by day. Nokia, the Finnish multimedia major has its operation in almost every part in the world. The entire saga of mobile telephony has got a new definition, a new lease of life with Nokia’s user-friendly mobile handsets. That is why, when we think of mobile phones, the name of Nokia comes to our minds spontaneously. Innovative features with breakthrough technology, state-of-the-art designing with gorgeous colour combinations-all what Nokia is known for. Nokia’s trademark quality and durability make every handset a priceless possession, a great piece of craftsmanship.

The Nokia 6300 and the Nokia 5300 are two latest handsets from the popular Nokia stable. The Nokia 6300 is a very stylish and elegant mobile handset with a slim body. The handset measures 107 x 44 x 13 mm and is equipped with some fantastic features like 2″ screen with 240×320 pixel display, 2 megapixel camera, 3GPP video player/recorder, built-in music player, Bluetooth, MicroSD card support and MIDP Java 2.0 with additional Java APIs. The network data support feature is brilliantly supplemented with GPRS, EGPRS, CSD and HSCSD.

The Nokia 5300 is a great phone in looks as well as in features. The handset slides up smoothly to reveal a host of multimedia features such as music player, 1.3 megapixel camera, FM player, picture messaging, WAP etc. Other important features include GPRS, Bluetooth, speakerphone, voice dialling etc. The most striking feature of the Nokia 5300 is that the handset is endowed with dedicated play, pause, rewind and fast-forward buttons-ensuring you unmatched musical experience.

In fine, both the Nokia 6300 and the Nokia 5300 are two brilliant mobile handsets. But if you are more attracted to the music feature of a phone, then, the Nokia 5300 is a better option. The handset has got an internal memory of 5MB. However, you can expand it up to 2G using MicroSD memory cards.

Keywords And How To Use Them To Ensure Search Engine Visitors

admin    Web Marketing     Engine, Ensure, Keywords, Search, Them, Visitors

Keywords And How To Use Them To Ensure Search Engine Visitors

What are keywords and why are they so important in optimizing your website?

Keywords, basically, are the words or phrases that are most associated with the subject of your business. These are the terms that people will most likely use to search for information about the topic of your website.

For example, your website is dedicated to the general subject of “cat care.” The keywords that are applicable for your business should be:

cat care care cat care of a cat cat care clinic cat care society care of my cat take care of my cat take care of a cat cat health care to take care of a cat how to take care of a cat care for a cat care of cat care for cat care of your cat to care for a cat how to care for a cat taking care of a cat cat dental care persian cat care

There are more, most definitely, but these examples should give you a good idea on how to come up with the most effective keywords for your online business.

You could manually think of 1000s of applicable keywords, but such would be a brain buster. Instead, check out the tools found on the following websites:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox

http://www.inventory.overture.com

http://www.goodkeywords.com

The features on these sites will give you a lot of suggestions for possible keywords which you can use. Once you have selected your keywords, it’s time to put them to good use. Here are the things that you should do with them:

Populate your website’s content with the keywords. Try to insert 2 to 4 keywords per 100 words. This will give you a 2 to 4 percent density level, which many experts believe is the optimal amount of keywords to attract the attention of the search engine spiders without compromising the logical integrity of your content.

Remember, just because you use the keywords in your content, doesn’t mean that the readability of your content should be sacrificed. Always keep in mind that you have to keep your content informative.

Insert the keywords in your meta tags. Meta tags are HTML codes that help the search engine spiders to identify your web pages. Simply include the following tag in your source code:

Please Note: In each of the HTML instances below, to create PROPER html tags you will need to replace [ with < AND ] with >.

[META name="keywords" content="(place your keywords here with each term separated by a comma)"]

Meta tags should also be present for your title, with the use of the tag [title] , as well as your headlines, with the use of the tag [h1], [h2], [h3] and so on and so forth.

Here’s an example of a title tag for your source code:

[title]An Introduction To Cat Care[title]

And here’s an example of a headline tags:

[h1]Why Should You Care For Your Cat?[h1]

[body](the appropriate part of your content goes here)[body]

[h2]How To Start Caring or Your Cat[h2]

[body](the appropriate part of your content goes here)[body]

Use your keywords in your ALT tags. ALT tags is the alternative text that appears every time the mouse cursor passes over an image. It is advisable that you have a working knowledge of HTML for this, though most HTML editors like Microsoft Front Page and Macromedia Dreamweaver have features that will make this easier.

It is important to note how search engine spiders read your website. Once they have pinpointed your page, courtesy of the meta tags in your source code, the search engine spiders will read your content from the uppermost left part of the page going to the extreme right, and back left in the next line, much like how a web surfer will view your site.

It is therefore essential that the uppermost left portion of your webpage contains your keywords. This can be done by including the said keywords in your title.

Your first paragraph is critical. Make sure to include your keywords in the very first sentence, and also try to mention your keywords at least twice in the rest of the paragraph. Succeeding paragraphs need only mention your keywords at least once.

Divide your content into paragraphs, and introduce a shift in subtopic with a sub-headline. The sub-headline should also include your keywords.

Lastly, about the bottommost right portion of a web page, many people are actually having a hard time figuring out how to include the keywords in this section. Here’s a simple trick. The bottommost right portion of a page is usually reserved for your copyright notice. In our running example of a business involved with cat care, where “cat care” are the primary keywords, you could use the copyright format below:

© 2005 cat care

That should do it, right?

Keyword research and website optimization are only a small part of getting high search engine rankings. I will cover other strategies in coming articles.

What are Keywords? Why Do We Need Them?

admin    Web Marketing     Keywords, Need, Them

What are Keywords? Why Do We Need Them?

Keywords are the words or phrases that people use when searching for information on the internet.

When composing a website or a blog it is important that we list the appropriate keywords in the heading section so that people can easily find us.

If your website does not contain related keywords, surfers will not even know that your website exists. Make sure that the words and phrases that you list are relevant to your article.

The words and phrases should be those that a potential customer would use when searching for information that relates to your area of expertise.

Look at your new website through the eyes of a stranger. What search words or phrases would you use to find this site? Read the text to see if those particular words or phrases are there to be found. If your choice is contained in the headline, you have the best chance of success. If it is in the first chapter or in a sub headline and repeated further down the page, you are still on a winner.

If you can think up two or three more relevant search terms and incorporate them within your text in a natural manner, you are well on the way to creating a profitable website. Make sure that these keywords and phrases are listed in your keyword list in the header of your website. This is where the search engines will be looking.

Not everyone restricts themselves to a single word when making a search. Phrases of two, three or even four words are often used. These generally make for a much more detailed search and only if you have listed these short phrases within your keyword list will your particular website be found.

In order to achieve success your keyword list should contain terms and phrases that are descriptive, related to your content, and which receive a significant amount of searches.

Ideally, you want to find terms and phrases where there is little competition, so you quickly achieve high ranking in the important search engines,

Markets that have thousands of sites, all competing for the same keywords and search terms, make it important that you try to discover one or two words or phrases that few others are listing.

You can bet that every one of the most popular keywords are listed on the vast majority of the websites in your genre. Use them by all means but also list some of the less popular more targeted ones that are aimed at a niche within your site as well. Words that the big boys would not bother with. They are all capable of bringing some traffic to your site.

So. How do you discover these more obscure keywords? There are tools on-line that are designed to help you to do just that. I like Keyword tumbler You give it a few relevant keywords or phrases and it will come up with loads of different variations. It will list variations that you would never have thought of on your own.

Another one that I like to use is: Digital point. you will find it at. .digital point /tools/suggestion/ This is a keyword suggestion tool. – You enter a search phrase to see how often it’s searched for, as well as getting suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords. It will show you the results of your query determining which phrases are searched for most often.

Overture Keyword Tool is another very useful tool. After entering a keyword or phrase, Overture provides a list of related phrases that have been searched on.
˜Top word Tool, will analyze a complete web page and counts keyword occurrences, as well as phrases, equal to or above the number set in the Minimum Occurrences setting. It supplies a list of keywords and phrases which are most likely to achieve the highest rankings on a major search engine.

The tool will also analyze your meta description, keyword and title tags and then, through colour coding, inform you of words and phrases which should be included. The main use for this tool is checking your optimization and tweaking existing web sites to rank well. You will find it at: abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.html/

There are many other sites that will do a similar job. Most of them equally as well but with a slightly different slant. I am not saying that those that I have mentioned are better in any particular way. They are just the ones that I use on a regular basis. A quick search on Google will bring up quite a long list.

It is no use designing the most attractive website in the world if no one is going to find it or even know it is there. Keywords and phrases are the actual key to a profitable website, make sure that your website is the one that is easiest to find and gets the most hits.

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5 Powerful Copywriting Tips & Why you Should Use Them

admin    Web Marketing     Copywriting, Powerful, Should, Them, Tips

5 Powerful Copywriting Tips & Why you Should Use Them

Copyright (c) 2007 Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd.

One great thing about copywriting is it

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Five (5) Major Pitfalls Of Ad Copywriting And What You Can Do To Avoid Them

admin    Web Marketing     Avoid, Copywriting, Five, Major, Pitfalls, Them

Five (5) Major Pitfalls Of Ad Copywriting And What You Can Do To Avoid Them

For all of us involved in advertising the challenge of producing that one piece of copywriting magic that sends our sales soaring is never far from our minds. Face it, copywriting is not all about aesthetically pleasing language, it is about sales. The most aesthetically pleasing copywriting is not necessarily the most persuasive that will produce the greatest sales. More often than not, simple language is what produces the most sales. This, in no way implies that you should abandon your artistic abilities when writing your ad copy.

Great copywriting demands discipline, imagination, creativity and hard work. You will not become a great copywriter overnight. Even for the best of us, it takes time to master the skill of ad copywriting. With hard work, dedication and purpose you will be able to acquire the techniques that will have you producing great ad copy.

In this article you will learn about the pitfalls you must avoid if you wish to improve your ad copy:

Wrong or Misleading Information

There is nothing worse than an ad copy that misrepresents it products or services. The only person it hurts is you. Yes, you make a few quick bucks but misleading information will eventually destroy your credibility.

Solution: Thoroughly check the facts of your copy before submitting it.

No call to action

Many times we are guity of producing great ad copy be omit the call to action. You must tell your readers exactly you expect of them, whether to sign up to your mailing list or buy your product. The call for action is what turns visitors into customers.

Solution: State precisely what action you want from your readers

Sexist language

Sexist or gender specific language can be offensive to people and will only serve to alienate your readers.

Solution: Use gender-neutral phrases. Use of plurals is also recommended.

Alienation of Readers

Your audience should always be the primary focus of copywriting and thus your writing style should reflect that of your audience. Unnecessary words and phrases will confuse your audience and take the punch out of your ad copy.

Solution: Avoid the use of technical jargon. Simplicity is the key to effective communication. Make sure your copy is concise. Don’t speak over the heads of your readers or try to impress them with words and phrases they do not understand.

Emotionless Language

Emotion is the central nervous system of copywriting. People buy on emotion not words. Bland copy does not appeal to the emotion of your readers. To write emotionally charged copy that creates an attachment between your readers and products you must first understand your customers needs, moods, personality and desires.

Solution: You must try to understand what motivates them into buying your product. Get to know your customers and understand what motivates them into buying your product. Appeal to the emotions of your readers. Emphasise with your customers.

If you keep those tips in mind when preparing your ad copy, you will see significant improvements in your copywriting.

Related Copywriting Articles

Fatal Negotiation Mistakes Copywriters Make, and How To Avoid Them

admin    Web Marketing     Avoid, Copywriters, Fatal, Mistakes, Negotiation, Them

Fatal Negotiation Mistakes Copywriters Make, and How To Avoid Them

In this article I’ll share two financially ruinous negotiating tactics often made by beginning copywriters. Both came from my coaching students just this week.

Financially ruinous negotiating tactic #1 comes from a successful book author who is adding copywriting to his writing skill set. Here, paraphrased, is a comment he made to me on Monday:

“My client seems unhappy with the work. I’m thinking of telling her she doesn’t have to pay the final 50 percent.”

My response:

Copywriting is part science and part “art.” And it’s the subjective aspect of assessing copy that leads writers to feel responsible when a client is not happy.

However, time (and expertise) is all the copywriter has to sell. A client contracts for that time and uses it, and must respect it with the agreed-upon pay.

Is the copywriter always right to demand payment when a
client’s satisfaction is unrewarded?

If the copy is indeed poor, then of course the client shouldn’t have to pay anything at all. But in the case of my student, a Creative Brief was used, and in fact, filled out by the client herself.

Thanks to the Creative Brief, the Web site copy was “on target,” and since I reviewed it as a “copy chief,” I know that first draft copy was very good.

However, the client’s email noted that the “voice” was not sufficiently hers, that she did not feel that her positioning as a “rural GP” came through strongly enough, that her bio seemed overly altruistic, and that it was clear that she would have to take the copy “in house” to finish.

When a copywriter gets this kind of feedback, his immediate response is often one of confusion, and sometimes deep insecurity. These emotions cause him to react defensively, instead of studying the response.

Rather than throw in the towel and lose half the copywriting fee, I advised my student to call the client and offer to add what she perceived to be missing from the copy.

Unless the copy is way off mark, and it shouldn’t be if the writer used a Creative Brief, the solution is to make changes and edit until the work is acceptable and meets expectations.

The take-away: DON’T offer refunds or partial payments. DON’T get defensive. Instead, study and analyze a client’s response. Get a clear picture of what the client is complaining about, then fix it.

If the client can’t specifically tell you what’s wrong, then it becomes obvious to both parties that it’s the client who is failing in the communication process. Revisions, refinements, and editing are a natural part of the copywriting process and their function is to “fix what’s wrong” and perfect the piece.

(In this case, the small two-person operation exhibited characteristics typical of small business…they were unsophisticated about marketing and its processes, and unclear about the value of copywriting. They confirm my timeworn advice to avoid small businesses and seek work from more marketing-savvy mid-size and large companies.)

Financially ruinous negotiating tactic #2 comes from one of my recently “graduated” coaching students.

She asks: “Do you always quote based on your time or do
you quote based on the value the project has to the client?”

The answer is to always quote based on the value to the client. If your work makes the client many thousands of dollars, or more, then you should be fairly compensated.

In cases where your work is directly linked to leads or sales, it helps to view yourself not so much as a “copywriter” but as a sales pro. Get the fact that you’re a writer out of your head and see yourself in a different light.

Who are the most important individuals in any for-profit entity? Those who bring in the business! Everyone else’s salary depends on them. That’s why they’re usually paid more than anyone else. YOU are in that category.

Two Common Negotiating Mistakes Copywriters Make, and How to Avoid Them

admin    Web Marketing     Avoid, Common, Copywriters, Mistakes, Negotiating, Them

Two Common Negotiating Mistakes Copywriters Make, and How to Avoid Them

This month I’ll share two financially ruinous negotiating tactics often made by beginning copywriters. Both recently came from my coaching students.

Financially ruinous negotiating tactic #1 comes from a successful book author who is adding copywriting to his writing skill set. Here, paraphrased, is a comment he made to me:

“My client seems unhappy with the work. I’m thinking of telling her she doesn’t have to pay the final 50 percent.”

My response:

Copywriting is part science and part art. And the subjective aspect of assessing copy often leads writers to feel responsible when a client is not happy.

However, time and expertise is all the copywriter has to sell. A client contracts for that time and uses it and must respect it with the agreed-upon pay.

Is the copywriter always right to demand payment when a client’s satisfaction is unrewarded?

If the copy is indeed poor, then of course the client shouldn’t have to pay anything at all. But in the case of my student, a Creative Brief was used, and in fact, filled out by the client herself.

Thanks to the Creative Brief, the Web site copy was on target, and since I reviewed it as a copy chief, I know that first draft copy was very good.

However, the client’s email noted that the “voice” was not sufficiently hers, that she did not feel that her positioning as a “rural GP” came through strongly enough, that her bio seemed overly altruistic, and that it was clear that she would have to take the copy in house to finish.

When a copywriter gets this kind of feedback, his immediate response is often one of confusion, and sometimes deep insecurity. These emotions cause him to react defensively,instead of studying the response.

Rather than throw in the towel and lose half the copywriting fee, I advised my student to call the client and offer to add what she perceived to be missing from the copy.

Unless the copy is way off mark,and it shouldn’t be if the writer used a Creative Brief,the solution is to make changes and edit until the work is acceptable and meets expectations.

The take-away: DON’T offer refunds or partial payments. DON’T get defensive. Instead, study and analyze a client’s response. Get a clear picture of what the client is complaining about, then fix it.

If the client can’t specifically tell you what’s wrong, then it becomes obvious to both parties that it’s the client who is failing in the communication process. Revisions, refinements, and editing are a natural part of the copywriting process. In this case, the small two-person operation exhibited characteristics typical of small business. They were unsophisticated about marketing and its processes and unclear about the value of copywriting. They confirm my timeworn advice to avoid small businesses and seek work from more marketing-savvy mid-size and large companies.

Financially ruinous negotiating tactic #2 comes from one of my recently “graduated” coaching students.

She asks: “Do you always quote based on your time or do you quote based on the value the project has to the client?”

The answer is to always quote based on the value to the client. If your work makes the client many thousands of dollars, or more, then you should be fairly compensated.

In cases where your work is directly linked to leads or sales, it helps to view yourself not so much as a copywriter but as a sales pro. Get the fact that you’re a writer out of your head and see yourself in a different light.

Who are the most important individuals in any for-profit entity? Those who bring in the business! Everyone else’s salary depends on them. That’s why they’re usually paid more than anyone else. YOU are in that category.

30+ Offers Over 60 Days! Get Paid 75% On All Of Them!

admin    Twitter Marketing     Days, Offers, Over, Paid, Them

30+ Offers Over 60 Days! Get Paid 75% On All Of Them!
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20$ per sale in the new and Hot Psp unlock niche.
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